Hilltoppers,

I see Hilltop’s employee benefits as an extremely important part of working here. Being able to take care of our own and our family’s health and wellbeing allows us to give the very best to our clients and residents. Hilltop’s Open Enrollment period is happening right now through this Saturday, May 23rd. It may look different than in year’s past, but the urgency of making sure you are taking advantage of everything Hilltop offers is still there.

This is the time when you can make changes to your medical, vision, or dental plans, enroll in supplemental or life insurance, take advantage of the 401K matching plan to meet your retirement goals, and/or earmark money for future medical or dependent care costs. If you are happy with your past year’s selections, the same benefits will rollover to this upcoming year, but it is important to note that this does not include the medical or dependent care flexible spending accounts. If you take advantage of those, please hop on the Open Enrollment section in Ultipro and reconfirm those selections on the FSA open enrollment platform. If those are your only changes, you do NOT need to re-enroll in the other benefits. The HR department has put up some great information on the Portal if you need help knowing what to do and where to go.

You’ll notice there will be approximately a 12% increase in your medical premiums. This reflects the general rise of medical care and prescription costs we all face. As a self-insured organization, our brokerage partners are expecting to see an additional $353,033 for the 2020/2021 fiscal year. Hilltop will be assuming $267,463 of the increase and the other $85,570 is reflected in the 12% increase to premiums. I know healthcare insurance is very costly, and while we see increases every year, we try our best to keep the costs down. Participation in the Wellness program as well as exploring options with Hilltop’s Health Access are all great ways we can keep healthcare as affordable as possible.

This can be a tricky and confusing process, especially being primarily online this year with the loss of our face to face benefits’ fair. I encourage all of you to click this link: OPEN ENROLLMENT AND BENEFITS , reach out to your HR partner or Hilltop’s Benefit Coordinator, Susan Volkmann, at 244-0446 with any questions you have.

Stay safe, stay healthy, stay Hilltop Strong!

Mike